Judge makes first ever order banning publication of information on Facebook and Twitter to prevent woman in coma from being named

Secret: Mr Justice Baker has ruled that M and her family have a right to privacy

Facebook and Twitter users have been given their first injunction specifically banning them from publishing information.

As concern continues to grow over the levels of secrecy in the UK with gagging orders preventing newspapers from writing the names of celebrities involved in various scandals, the Court of Protection has ruled that the identity of a desperately sick woman whose family want to withdraw her life support must remain secret.

It is believed by lawyers that it is the first time an injunction has been used, specifically for the social networking site, Facebook, and micro-blogging site, Twitter.

However, they are both out of British jurisdiction because they are registered in the United States.

Relatives say the 51-year-old, whose fate will be decided at a court hearing this summer, would be better off dead.

But her case has provoked controversy because it is the first to involve doctors potentially killing a sick person who is not in a persistent vegetative state.

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Yesterday an MP called the decision to hide her identity and that of her family ‘evil’, and lawyers questioned why privacy law was being applied to a case of overwhelming public interest.

The woman – known only as M – is ‘minimally conscious’ with a brain-stem wasting disease. She may be more alert than doctors believe, Mr Justice Baker said yesterday.

MP John Hemming said injunctions are 'evil' and believes the Court of Protection 'lives in a bubble'

Her family want a court to order the removal of her hydration and nutrition tubes, which will mean she dies of thirst and starvation. The court will rule in July.

But Mr Justice Baker said at the High Court that press intrusion would be wrong, because there were doubts over whether the family would continue calling for M’s death if they were identified.

He said that under Labour’s 1998 Human Rights Act, M and her family have a right to privacy. His ruling comes at a time of deep unease over privacy law.

However, Lib Dem MP John Hemming, who has campaigned against the gagging orders has said the court that imposed the injunction was 'living in a bubble'.

'They [injunctions] are like King Canute: the tide will keep coming in no matter what they do,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

'The problem the courts have is Twitter is not registered in the UK and therefore outside British jurisdiction. What they are saying is unrealistic. This is about life and death and I don't think it's acceptable, there is a real issue with transparency.

'The Court of Protection operates in a bubble - it's out of touch with the real world.'

He added: ‘The decision to invoke privacy is dreadful. It shows how evil these court injunctions have become.’

The injunction is the first ever to be imposed specifically on Facebook and Twitter

Judges have awarded a series of draconian injunctions banning public mention of the names of footballers, actors and TV personalities involved in sex scandals.

When the courts first ordered doctors to kill a patient, the individual and his family were named.

Tony Bland, a victim of the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster, was in a persistent vegetative state with no sign of recovery when the House of Lords ruled in 1993 that he could be killed through removal of food and water tubes.

The latest case has been brought before the Court of Protection, which was set up so a person or their family could demand doctors kill them if they become too ill to act for themselves.

M fell ill with brain stem encephalitis in February 2003 and quickly deteriorated.

The family, which includes M’s partner, sister and mother, ‘gave real consideration about whether they would want to continue with the case’ if identified, the judge said.

Lawyer Niri Shan, from the Taylor Wessing firm, added: ‘It does seem that there is a strong public interest involved in this case.’

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Injunctions hit Facebook and Twitter as first ever order bans publication of information